So it's Valentine's Day. I've painted my toenails sparkly pink and put on articles of clothing with hearts on them. I'm a hopeless romantic. I love chick flicks, sappy songs, daydreaming, and simple surprises. However, balancing a romantic interest can be difficult at times for athletes. It takes creativity and planning. I am in awe of one couple on the E2 team (the E2 team is a group of athletes in Ohio I've trained and become friends with over the years.) Andy and Sarah Braunshausen are the definition of creative and successful training as a couple... with 3 kids by the way.
1. "What is most challenging being an athlete couple?"
The greatest challenge is finding 15-20 hours in a week with work and family time; then mulitiply that time by two -gets very crazy.
Andy: Gets up very early before work to do one workout and the other workout is done in the evening after the kids are in bed, very little sleep.
Sarah: I do one workout during the day thanks to the Mason Community Center having free babysitting; then we usually bike together on our trainers after the kids are in bed. The hardest workouts are the long bikes on Saturday. With a four hour ride for both of us that's 8 hours out of the day, plus prep time. Some days we do "date night" in the morning, so we are not taking up the entire day. After all, we have kid's sports and birthday parties to work around as well. Saturday is by far the hardest day.
2. "What is most rewarding about being an athlete couple?"
Andy: Our kids get exposure to active lifestyles. We get to participate, travel, and train together.
Sarah: Our kids play "race" at home. They set up aid stations and fill up their water bottles, they have a sign up sheet to sign in their numbers. They run circles around the house or when it's cold they set up shop inside. When they are done racing they say "You are an Ironman". It's so fun to listen to them. Just the other day Avery asked why we don't do more races, so they can stay in more cities with hotels. They have fun cheering us on and going to the races.
3. "How has your similar interest in sports brought you closer together?"
Andy: We get the chance to workout together, which we enjoy doing. Our training plans are very similar so we can support each other, hold each other accountable, and compare workouts.
Sarah: It's a lot easier to understand why someone is crazy enough to put in those training hours when you have the same passion for the sport. If we didn't understand that it would be hard to justify putting all that effort into something. We also are lucky enough to do some training together.
4. "What is your athletic history?"
Andy: HS- Baseball, football, basketball, never ran or for that matter liked running until I met Sarah and she talked me into doing the Bix 7 in the quad cities. I enjoyed it and slowly worked my way to marathons and then started doing Triathlons and have now completed two Ironmans.
Sarah. I've been running competively since 5th grade. I played basketball and softball in high school and ran track and cross country. In college I played basketball for Iowa State University. After college I started running again and did some marathons. After having the kids I decided to join Andy and try some triathlons, l loved them. Did my first half last year.
5. "What are your 2011 goals?" Andy: 9:59:59 in Ironman Coeur 'd Alene
Sarah: sub 11 at Ironman Wisconsin and qualify for Kona.
I've trained and raced with both of you. I have no doubt in my mind you will reach your goals this year. Keep up the hard work!
miss
No comments:
Post a Comment